We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Lisa Hurley a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Lisa, thanks for joining us today. What do you think it takes to be successful?

Appreciate you joining us today. Risk-taking is something we’re really interested in, and we’d love to hear the story of a risk you’ve taken.

Lisa Hurley:

Thank you so much for having me. It’s truly an honor to share space with you.

Risk, for me, often looks like choosing softness and rest in a world that rewards harshness and hustle. But while risk has been an almost-constant companion in my life, I view it as part of my sacred calling. Taking smart risks is a conduit to manifesting your purpose.

One of the biggest risks I ever took, personally and professionally, was redefining what success means to me. Traditional success often involves metrics that the world can see: C-suite roles, impressive titles, big-name clients—and long hours. The thing is, those success measures also tend to bring with them exhaustion, depletion, emptiness, and burnout.

However, I choose to define success differently. To me, rest is the new success.

The risk I’m taking by focusing on resting, exhaling, and doing less is that capitalism does not want me—or any of us—to be rested, so there is constant pushback. There is the need to continually enforce my boundaries, protect my energy, defend my position, and preserve my peace. This can result (and has resulted) in my missing out on promotions, being put on PIPs (performance improvement plans), or even losing jobs and opportunities.

Nevertheless, I have persevered.

I have put myself out there and taken the risk of vocally and proactively prioritizing my health, self-care, and humanity to help make it easier for others to do so as well. Taking that risk gave birth to The Great Exhale, a virtual sanctuary where Black women can relax, release, and finally stop holding their breath. It also inspired me to write Space To Exhale: A Handbook For Curating a Soft, Centered, Serene Life. The ethos behind them both is one of resistance, restoration, and reclamation. I truly believe that we ALL need to say no to hustle culture and yes to a life of ease. As I say in Space To Exhale: “#BookedAndBusy has its place, but so does “BlessedAnd Rested.”

In a society that tells us we must always be strong, always be producing, always be “on,” I chose to create a sanctuary for softness, and to make it one that focuses exclusively on Black women. That was radical. That was risky. But it was necessary. And it has been the most aligned, rewarding path I have ever walked. Taking that risk meant building something that the world didn’t think it needed. But I knew better. Black women, alas, know exhaustion intimately. We know how to survive. I wanted to help us remember how to thrive. I know that I am operating in my purpose. That is what taking the right risk can lead to.

Lisa, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

Absolutely! I am a three-time Anthem Award-winning activist, writer, podcaster, Reiki Master, and community builder. My work converges at the intersection of self-care, community care, joy, and rest—and it always centers Black women. I believe that living softly is a form of resistance.

I am the author of Space To Exhale, a transformational guide for people who are tired of hustle culture, hard living, and high-functioning exhaustion. It is part memoir, part manifesto, part meditation manual—and fully dedicated to helping us reclaim our peace. I wrote Space To Exhale because I was tired of being tired—and I knew I wasn’t alone. Burnout has become a badge of honor for many of us, and I want to disrupt that. My goal is to offer everyone, and especially Black women, a guide to healing, alignment, and ease. Because despite what the world would have us believe, Black women deserve to live softly. I am also the host of Space To Exhale: The Podcast, and the Founder of The Great Exhale, a soft virtual space for Black women to be held in community, to be fully themselves, and to finally release the breath they’ve been holding for far too long. My work has been recognized by the Anthem Awards, pocstock, and others, and featured on platforms like Forbes, Entrepreneur, and Adweek. The accolades and achievements are great, but what means the most to me is knowing that my words and work have helped Black women feel seen, held, and loved.

Outside of that, I am a board member at Yuvoice, an Executive Member of the International Academy of Digital Arts & Sciences (IADAS), and a juror for the Anthem Awards. I have also been recognized as one of LinkedIn’s Top Black Creators, honored as an Introvert to Watch, and named one of the Top 10 Anti-Discrimination Activists in the world.

In addition, I am a proud daughter of the Caribbean diaspora: Born in Jamaica, nurtured in Trinidad, and raised in Barbados. I’m an introvert with a strong need for alone time, and an island gyal whose love languages are sunshine, laughter, and naps.

Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?

Any advice for growing your clientele? What’s been most effective for you?

Lisa Hurley:

My best advice? There are a few approaches that have worked well for me:

1. Be calibrated. Focus on alignment, not on algorithms. Be so consistent and embodied with your values that your people can feel it. When you lead with clarity, consciousness, and conviction, your audience will find you, and your following will grow.

2. Be niche. Focus on YOUR audience. I don’t market to everyone, and that should not be the goal. Targeting everyone targets no-one. I speak directly to the people I am called to serve—especially Black women navigating stress, burnout, and invisibility.

3. Be authentic. Authenticity is magnetic. My most effective strategy has been showing up as my whole self. Not performatively perfect. Just real. When you are honest about your journey—your struggles, your boundaries, your joys; your lessons, valleys, and peaks—you attract the people who are meant to walk with you. I speak candidly and directly to MY people. I name our pain, but I also name our power. That builds trust. My advice? Don’t just ask yourself “How do I grow my audience?” Ask “How do I serve my audience fully, honestly, and well?”

4. Be strategic. Every single social media platform is, in effect, rented land. Build your own fortress on your own soil. That can look like having your own website, newsletter, community, or all of the above. Make sure you are as invulnerable as possible. The goal is to build on a solid foundation so if something like TikTok-gate ever happens again, or if one of the current platforms becomes defunct, you are unfazed—because you are prepared.

5. Be collaborative. Community over competition, always. What Issa Rae calls “networking across,” is a part of the secret sauce. Don’t shy away from collaborating with people you already know, or to whom you have genuine access. Shoot for the stars for sure: send that cold email to Oprah’s team. But don’t be afraid to pitch marbles on the porch with your friends. Embrace your circle that already exists. Word-of-mouth referrals and simply being kind have done more for me than any ad campaign ever could.

6. Be attentive. Something else that works for me is that I listen to my community. I’m not building FOR them—I’m building WITH them. For example, when I was ready to name my virtual community, I conducted a poll online in which hundreds of people participated. So the community chose their own name: The Great Exhale. And they love it, because they created it. I co-create with those I serve, because they are the experts on their experience, wants, and needs. As the African proverb goes: “If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together.”

We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.

We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.

Lisa Hurley:

There have been many. But here is one that stays with me: When I launched The Great Exhale (TGE), I was in the midst of my own healing. I was burned out, grieving multiple personal and professional losses, and navigating a world that often tries to silence Black women. I was running on fumes.

But I knew that if I was feeling this way, other Black women were too. I knew that what felt so personal was quite likely more universal. So I created what I, and Black women like me, needed. A soft space. A sacred space. A safe space. Some of the early days leading up to launching TGE were filled with doubt. Would anyone come? Would it matter? Would they get it? But despite the doubts, I kept going. Thankfully, the people for whom the community was designed understood and appreciated the soft, serene sanctuary I had created for them. The first time a member of The Great Exhale told me how much the space meant to them, I wept. Every time I have felt like giving up (we all have those moments), I return to that message.

That’s the beauty of being resilient: You don’t merely survive life’s adversities, you alchemize your pain into purpose; into a powerful healing portal for others. True resilience is not the absence of hardship, but the radical choice to breathe life back into what the world has tried to snuff out.

I am still on the journey. Still learning. Still healing. Still softening. But I know that even in my most tender, most uncertain moments, I am being called to serve. The work is bigger than me. And that knowing gives me the strength to keep going.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.spacetoexhalebook.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thelisahurley/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thelisahurley/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/iamlisahurley/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@SpaceToExhale
• Other: [email protected]
  

  @thelisahurley

  
  https://linktr.ee/lisahurley
  https://open.spotify.com/show/3Nsobpd64jZdTXOqDO5E6L

Image Credits

Images 1, 2, 4, 5, 6, 7, and 8 © Lisa Hurley. Image 4: Ciana McCowan